Staple feed mechanism for fastener



March 27, 1951 H. w. MARANO STAPLE FEED MECHANISM FOR FASTENER APPLYING IMPLEMEN'I'S 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed March 26, 1949 Ewe/2150') 260015 Z11 772mm March 27, 1951 H. w. MARANO STAPLE FEED MECHANISM FOR FASTENER APPLYING IMPLEMENTS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed March 26, 1949 Jib Inigo $365125 772mm Reissued Mar. 27, g 1951 STAPLE FEED MECHANISM FOR FASTENER APPLYING IMPLEMENTS Herbert W. Marano, Brooklyn, N. Y., assignor to Wilson-Jones Company, Chicago, 111., a corporation of Massachusetts -riginal No. 2,528,444, dated October 31, 1950, Serial No. 83,750, March 26, 1949. Application for reissue December 12, 1950, Serial No. 200,321

Matter enclosed in heavy brackets appears in the original patent but forms no part of this reissue specification; matter printed in italics indicates the additions made by reissue.

3 Claims.

This invention relates to a stapling machine, and specifically to a staple slide and its spring for moving the staples along the slide towards the exit channel.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide means for permitting ready access to the staples mounted on the slide to move them away from the exit channel without dismantling any part of the stapling machine.

Another object of the invention is to provide spring means for feeding the staples forwardly along the staple slide that will require a minimum of space behind the feed plate and Will be effective to move the feed plate anywhere along its path of travel.

Other objects of the invention will become apparent upon reading the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of a stapling machine of the type for which the staple slide and spring are particularly designed;

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the stapling machine shown in Figure 1, with the top raised to show the staple slide and spring;

Figure 3 is a bottom plan view of the staple slide with the spring partially compressed;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view, taken along the line 44 of Figure 3, with the feed plate and spring omitted to clarify the showing of the staple slide structure;

Figure 5 is a cross sectional view, taken along the line 5-5 of Figure 3, showing the staple and the adjacent portion of the top of the stapling machine in dotted lines;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary detail perspective on an enlarged scale showing the feed plate in association with the staple slide and spring, with the staple slide cut away to show the feed plate structure more clearly;

Figure 7 is a longitudinal sectional view, taken along the line 1-1 of Figure 6, but with the staple slide extended and staples positioned on the slide; and

Figure 8 is a top elevation of the staple slide, feed plate, and spring, with parts broken away to facilitate illustration.

In the drawings, the reference numeral 2 indicates a stapling machine base having upstanding ears 3 at its rear end. A top 4 is pivotally secured to the ears by means of a hinge pin 5. The top 4 is open at its bottom, and a staple slide 6 is mounted therein by the interengagement of flanges 1, extending outwardly from opposite longitudinal sides of the staple slide, and

2 longitudinally extending recesses 8 in the inner surface of each side wall of the top of the stapling machine.

The staple slide 6 comprises a top wall 9 and a pair of downwardly extending side walls Ill which are straddled by the legs of wire staples H. The side walls II] are each bent outwardly, as indicated at [2, upwardly, as indicated at I3, and then outwardly to form horizontal flanges "i. Each side wall I0 is provided with a longitudinally extending slot I4 through which fingers 15 of feed plate I6 extend to engage the legs of staples l I. The slots it stop short of the rear end I! of the staple slide, so that when'feed plate [6 is retracted far enough fingers l5 will engage the ends of slots [4 and will be collapsed into the interior of the staple slide topermit staples fed over the rear end of the staple slide to pass, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 8. A. lip [8 extends downwardly from the top wall 9 adjacent its front end and is apertured to receive one end of a guide rod l9, the other end of which is supported by end wall l1. Feed plate I6 is slidably mounted on guide rod IS. A pair of lips 20 is struck downwardly from the top wall 9 rearwardly of the end of slots M to stop the rearward movement of the feed plate [6 after fingers l5 have been collapsed into the interior of the staple slide.

Ordinarily, when the feed fingers I5 are collapsed into the interior of the staple slide, any staples on the slide will move backwards under the actionlof gravity alone if the stapling machine is held with its front end up. However; sometimes staples H may be slightly deformed, as for instance by accidentally dropping a heavy object on them'before they are positioned in the stapling machine. Such deformation may be so slight that it will not be noticed when the staples are'later loaded on the staple slide. Such deformed staples will not feed properly in the stapling machine and will not fall out by gravity when the feed fingers are collapsed. A series of elongated openings 2| is cut out of the top wall 9 of the staple slide to permit ready access to the staples so that if they need to be moved backwards forany reason the stapling machine top may be swung around the pivot 5 to the position shown in Figure 2 and a sharp pointed instrument may be inserted through openings 2| to force the staples away from the exit channel 22 at the forward end of the machine. Openings 2! are wide enough so that the guide rod [-9 will not interfere with manipulation of the sharp pointed instrument.

decreasing. in: size, as in a. spiral.

relationship is not new, butrsprings: long enough to exert pressure against the teedplate when rthe feed plate is adjacent the front end of the stapling machine require so much space when icompressedthat the stapling machine requiresi'considerable extra length to allow for the spring. This problem has been partially solved by Pankonin in Patent No. 2,165,572,-issued July 11, 1939, but the double springi structureithere disclosed is relatively expensive and difficult to assemble.

:Aszcontemplateddn the present invention, the barrel spring .23. comprisesa continuouslseries of helical spring sections each of which has half its coils progressively increasing, and the other The degree of difference between the diameters of adjacent coils is slightly greater than the thickness of the wire so thatthecoils in each section may .be compressedinto aspaceequal-in thickness to twice the-thickness of the wire of -which the springis made.

The reduction in theslength of the space saved bylthe use of-the barrel spring23instead of a conventional helical spring may be expressed by the formula--R=ND2DS 'whereR is the reduction-in length, N is the number of coils that would be required in a conventional helical spring tofperfor-m the intended-functionof urgingthe feed plate forwardlyregardless of its position on the staple slide, Dis the diameter of wire, and S is the number of sections in the spring.

Theicompressibilityof the spring is of extremeimportance because when the staple slide isfully loaded the spring must be contained in the space between the rear ofthe-feed plate and the rear .end-ofthe staple slide. When the staple slide is .almost empty, the vspring must exert enough force'against the remaining staples to move them. successively intothe exit'channel. 'This requirement of force atthe front end otthe stapleslidewhen mostof the staples-have been used 'm-akes it impractical to use a conventional helical spring because of the large amount of space that would-be required behind the-feed plate to house the spring when the staple slide is fully loaded.

Although I have described'a; preferred embodiment of my invention in considerable detail,.it will be understood that therdescription thereof is intended to be illustrative, .rather than restric- ,tive, as many detailsmaylbe modified'or changed without departing from the spirit or-scope'of my invention. Thestaple slide and barrel spring are particularly designed for use in-the: stapling machine disclosed" in my co-pending application Seria1 -No. 76,497, filedl'February 15, 1949, but *may besised in'man'yslotherl types of'stapling machines. Accordingly, I do not desire to be re- .stricted to the exact structure described, except .,.as.1imite,d. by .the appended claims.

'I claim: 1."In a stapling machine, a staple slide having -videaccess from-the underside of said staple slide 2 tof aplurality ofstaples straddling said slide, said op'eningsfi'being wider than said rod.

2. Ina stapling machine, a staple slide hav- "ing'atop wall provided with a longitudinally extendingi opening.-whereby.=accessmay be had from the underside of. said-staplelslide atosa ,plurality of staples straddling said staple slide, a depending end wall, a feed plate mounted in said staple slide, and a :spring. mounted in said staple slide between-saidvfeed plate and said depending end wall said springcomprising .a plurality of coils of different diameters whereby coils of smaller diametermay bereceived within adjacent coils .of slarger diameter when said spring is compressed.

L 3. Intastaplingsmachine, a staple-supporting slide, a staple pusherslidably mounted on the slide for reciprocable movement therealong, compression spring means disposed within. the, slide nor-mallg operable to .urge the pusher towards one-end of theslide, andspring guiding; and supportingsmeans within the-slide extending lengthwise thereof, the spring encircling :the guide vmeans beinga oontinuous integral elongated memberaand comprising, when expanded a plurality "10f -houreglass :shaped sections, each of which sections has half its convolutions-of progressively increasing-diameter and the other half ofrprogressively decreasing diameter, and adapted on contraction-thereoj to' have the individual smaller convolutionsenestswithin the adjacent larger convolutions.

*HERBERTW. MARANO.

.REEERENCE'S CITED The following ireferences lare iof'recordin' the fi-le'lofa thistpatent orithe. original patent:

UNITED STATES "PATENTS Number Name 1 Date 274,715 :Buckley r --Mar.2'7, .1885 75557729 -White e Mar. 29, 1904 1,031,090 Roze -July 2, 1912 -2;309,'l'l-'9 wMaynard. 'Feb. 2, 1943 FGREIGNPATENTS Number -.Country Date 326,939 Germany Aug. '5, 1920 

